So, you're here because you're relatively new to Lyra. Maybe you want to know why you're losing matches with her. Oh, I know! You're on a quest to learn how to execute the perfect combos!

Surely, questions like, "How to make full use of Imperial Sigil?" or "How to ruin your enemies' day with an Arcane Passage?" may or may not be bouncing around in your mind begging to be answered (just like a herd of Ameglian Major cows from Eoin Colfer's "And Another Thing" <HHGTTG2>).

Well, this is just the guide for you.

! Warning, contents not suitable for children under age 4. May contain traces of nuts and nuts. User caution is advised. !

How To Navigate My Guide.

You'll notice the icons arranged like this

This is a mark to indicate the end of a chapter and for me to show off my coding skills.

In case you're lost or you wanna skip to another specific chapter, be sure to tap/click on

Lyra is a fantastic hero capable of flexing into any positions, with different builds accentuating different aspects of her kit. She has every thing - mobility, zoning tools, damage, protections and utility at her disposal, making her a well-rounded hero for anyone to pick up. Played in the right hands, Lyra can completely alter teamfight dynamics, creating openings and opportunities for her team to wield to their advantage.

(Note that this is merely a quick introduction to Lyra's kit in its entirety. This is aimed at assisting players new to Lyra on understanding how her abilities work in general. Hop over to the next few chapters for an in-depth explanation on each and every part of her kit!)

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Heroic Perk - Principle Arcanum

Lyra's perk is nonetheless simple. Her auto attacks deal Crystal damage instead of the typical Weapon damage auto attacks are supposed to deal. If she doesn't move after releasing her first auto, she will channel and fire a second missile that deals a substantial amount of damage and slows the target briefly, at the cost of Energy. This is Lyra's primary source of damage and as such, try to constantly use this perk to harass your enemies when allowed. Just shoot 'em all with them missiles!!!

A Slot Ability - Imperial Sigil

Lyra's A slot ability is Imperial Sigil, the bread-and-butter of Lyra's kit. It makes supports go wet. Not only is it a point-click heal. It can also be used to deal Crystal damage, mess up the enemy team's positioning, speed up allies, and reveal anything in range. It's like a Swiss army knife, with less of the sharp, pointy ends. Due to its versatility, you can just pop it into some random location and gain an upper hand. Setting up teaamfights is a total breeze now! :D

B Slot Ability - Bright Buwlark

There are abilities deemed a nuisance to deal with. Bright Buwlark is one of them. In just a simple tap, Lyra unleashes a surge of negligible Crystal damage and, here's the fun part, creates a circular area around her that serves to prevent bloodthirsty baddies from dashing neither inwards or outwards. Enemies who dash inwards will find themselves smacked upwards by a partially invisible force with the sting of failure fresh on their cheeks. Dashing outwards is impossible at best, as everyone inside is snared and thus, are unable to use dashes. Allies are unaffected though, so don't worry.

Ultimate Ability - Arcane Passage

This is arguably my favourite abilty of all time. Upon activation, Lyra teleports towards a targetted location, leaving behind 2 portals for both allies and enemies to use. Arcane Passage is extremely useful in almost every occasion. It can be used as a means for the team to completely bypass terrain otherwise un-bypass-able. It provides Lyra and her team a secure exit if everything goes wrong. To add a final and not-so-common use, it can be used aggressively to muddle up the enemy team's engage/disengage. This'll be explained in the detailed chapter on Arcane Passage (with pictures!). It also increases your attack range like Baron's ultimate, just in case you didn't care to read the ability descriptions.

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Right! We've gone through the basic overview of Lyra's kit. Is it already enough to impress you into playing Lyra?

Way Number One - An increase in attack speed will reduce the channel time for your heavy missile, allowing you to blast enemies faster within a given time frame compared to a Lyrawithout increased attack speed. Like all normal auto attack speed modifiers, the pause between normal auto attacks (as in light missiles) is also reduced. So yes, you can kite or stutter-step like any normal hero.

Way Number Two - An increase in attack speed (it never gets old, does it?) will also increase the speed at which your missiles travel. Don't believe me? Try it out in the field.

Weapon Lyra

If you're going for an off-meta Weapon Lyra (not exactly something I recommend but you do you), it's recommended to cast your heavy missiles sparingly as both light and heavy autos deal the same, measly amount of Weapon damage. 10. A friggen 10. And that's if enemies are without Armor. That's a very big IF.

Don't despair from trying out Weapon Lyra though. Her crit animations are on point. Kudos to the devs at the Lair for producing such wonderful animations!!!

Ah, if it isn't Atlas Pauldron. This is the bane of almost every Weapon carry. How, though, is it relevant as a topic for Lyra?

You see, Atlas Pauldron can heavily negate her from fully utilizing Principle Arcanum. Why? Because her arcane missiles are tied directly towards her attack speed. Reduced attack speed would mean reduced missiles, both heavy and light. As her missiles are one of the 2 main sources of damage, Lyra's damage output would be severely hindered for a moment. Connect the dots, people.

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Having explained the hidden intricacies a typical player might not have known, here's a trick for you.

This image shows me doing something similar to stutter-stepping. Directly after firing your heavy missile, move like how you would normally move after an auto attack. There's still a slight delay after Lyra releases her heavy missile before she resets her auto attack cooldown, so it'd be nothing but a waste of time standing there or waiting until the animation ends. Anticipate your heavy missile and, the instant it is released, move immediately. Simple as that. You want to reduce idle time as much as possible.

After a delay, an Imperial Sigil is formed in the targetted location. Allies (if their health is anywhere below their max health) are healed every second, while enemies (regardless of health amount) will be dealt with Crystal damage every second.

You can then choose to either detonate the sigil manually or let it sit there for the rest of its duration before it detonates on its own. Upon detonation, the sigil deals a burst of Crystal damage to all enemies within its radius and provides a move speed bonus to all allied heroes. If the sigil is detonated manually, it consumes whatever healing it has left in its reserve and heals all allied heroes within by 50% of the consumed healing.

Confusing, eh?

Let's assume your Imperial Sigil heals for 1000 health max. Assuming you detonate it the moment it forms, you would provide a burst heal of 500 health only. This is the only thing you have to take note of when deciding on whether or not to detonate your sigils to save your ally.

Healing

Healing is a piece of cake: just tap onto an area in range and HUZZAH! anyone inside is healed back to the pink of health!

With that in mind, try to master casting it onto a location that allows your laner to last-hit creeps without killing off minions inside by accident.

Or something like this in teamfights to avoid wasting your sigil's health reserve on halved damage.

That's not it. You'll have to know when to detonate Imperial Sigil early and when not to.

If presented with the tough choice between healing and damaging, try to prioritize healing over using your sigil for damage.

Offense

Never underestimate the amount of damage a single sigil dishes out, or you'd be left with half a can of beer and less than half your liv - err, I meant your health.

Offense can be a broad term. It could mean something along the lines of psychological offense. It could mean something along the lines of fists and sticks. Whatever it is, everyone loves being on the giving end but never on the receiving end. A bit odd, don't you think?

The go-to way to offend your enemies would be casting Imperial Sigil directly onto them. The damage serves as a deterrent to your enemies from huddling around in that dark corner.

Here is an example of forcing the enemy laner to farm closer to their jungle.

If your allied jungler is about to flank the opposing laner, doing this increases the chance of a succesful gank. However, do note that you'd have expended your Imperial Sigil offensively and should your team fail to gank, enemies will have an easy time turning the tip of the blade around.

Psychological warfare can also work. Just drop that sigil onto your laner before returning to your jungler. Unless the enemy team has vision on you, their laner would assume you're in the brush or somewhere close and as such, would opt out of getting aggressive or maybe even ganking. Essentially, you're messing your enemies' minds by being omnipresent!!! How cool is that?

Utility

Now, onto the part that makes Imperial Sigil such a flexible tool. We're not gonna talk about the speed boost, as anyone with eyes can register the sudden burst of magical speed when the sigil detonates. No, we'll talk about vision.

When you're about to roam back to your jungle, you can cast your sigil in another way aside from dropping it onto your ally or your enemy. Cast it into the enemy's mustache bush and let it sit for as long as possible as a part flare, part scout trap kinda thing.

After a short delay (like, so short you don't even know it's a delay), Lyra deals a surge of Crystal damage in a wide area around her, slowing all enemies within range. Afterwards, the area is sealed shut by some dark sorcery.

Should any one of the baddies touch the wall, they take the same amount of damage and are slowed too. Enemy dashes are interrupted (and they're affected the same way a baddie walks into a wall) when they try to enter the area. Enemies on the inside are snared, meaning their automatic movement abilities have temporarily abandoned them. As a side note, this ability does not disable movement-speed-increasing abilities.

You see, the old Bright Bulwark, when overdriven, used to last for 6 whole seconds. It was then tweaked to 2.5 seconds. One day, the devs at SEMC went, 'Hmm...2.5 seconds is still a little too long. Let's cut it down to 2!' Such was Bright Bulwark's sad fate. It then received another whammy when its slow was reduced from 50% to the current 20%.

On the bright side, at least it didn't have the 20 something cooldown anymore! :D

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Let's see how it affects every hero.

Unaffected, with feelings of disgust.

A and B Silenced and disrupted on collision.

A, B and Ult Silenced and disrupted on collision. If Ardan casts Gauntlet and hits the wall, he'll center it around his disrupted location. Due to both abilities having identical radius, Ardan will stun Lyra if she doesn't move.

Upon cast, Lyra teleports directly towards the target location, ignoring all possible terrain and granting her a short burst of speed. She leaves portal openings at both her initial and final location, to which both teams can freely use.

Anyone who goes through the portal is granted a short burst of move speed, but enemies have to wait for 1 second after the portals form before they get to use them.

While this ability offers little to no damage, it does surprisingly well in terms of utility.

Note: This ability cannot be cast if affected by Snare, Root, Stun, and Silence

Displacing

Doing this can actually save lives otherwise lost, y'know.

As seen in both scenarios, Arcane Passage was used defensively in order to force enemies away from allies. Turn it around and you can use it offensively too. Just teleport in front of a fleeing enemy and enjoy your medium-rare beef Wellington, a-lã Ramsay!

Combos

It can also be used in tandem with Lyra's other abilities to create unique combos.

+ She is the first and (currently) only hero with a kit centered around healing. Her heal easily outclasses most other heroes with healing.

+ She has a plethora of utility. Speed boosts, soft CC, damage, portals, zoning, vision, to name a few. Her wide range of application in abilities make her relatively flexible when it comes to using them.

+ Her kit allows her to control areas on the map to prevent enemy access or benefit allies. Enemies can be easily dissuaded from playing in a safe position, allowing easy exploitation.

+ Mobility is one if the most important aspects in MOBAs, and Lyra sure as hell has it. Played well, she can be absolutely impossible to pin down.

WEAKNESSES

- She's a huge threat early, but as the game stretches on, her damage really starts to decline.

- Without hard CC, Lyra finds herself at a handicap compared to heroes with Stuns, Silences, Root, et cetera. Really, she has no way to make you stop attacking her teammates.

- She's just as vulnerable as the carries she protects, and is unable to really stay in the front lines.

- The impact of hers isn't as huge as other heroes like, say Adagio or Catherine. She just can't put a pause in fights.

In this phase, you'd want to play a little more aggressive. When combining the damage on Principle Arcanum and Imperial Sigil, you can easily whittle down your enemy's health.

Try to bully the enemy carry out to create a safer environment for your carry, especially if you have a safe position to take advantage of. If you're the carry, save Imperial Sigil to heal yourself up and expect to be harassed due to the difficulty in last-hitting creeps.

Mid-Game

At this point, you're pretty much nothing. Lyra's damage has already begun to fall off, and Imperial Sigil's cooldown has yet to become forgiving.

At this point, aim to constantly roam between both the lane and jungle. Try to sit a wave with your carry before joining your jungler through a rotation.

We're finally gonna get over the items! Yay! At long last! Let's get over this quick!

Captain Cores

Compared to other boots, I prefer Halcyon Chargers for the additional Energy, Energy recharge, move speed, cooldown reduction and a decent amount of health.

This is a no-brainer. Try to rush this to alleviate the amount of reliance on Imperial Sigil. Don't pop it too early though, it's precious.

Crucible is a pretty good item for Lyra to pick up. It provides a huge amount of Health and it can further enhance her ability to protect her allies. However, due to its low impact, I usually rush the others first.

Cooldown, vision and health are the main few reasons why Contraption should be an early pick-up. Being able to manage vision and increase map information is what separates the great Captains from the good.

Same reason as Contraption at the top when it comes to stats. However, Nullwave Gauntlet serves as an offensive measure for Lyra's team. Not only can it force out a Reflex Block on vigilant enemies, it can also punish Captains by Silencing them temporarily, allowing for easier engagements.

Being a default protector, Lyra has some fancy base damage. Sadly, it comes from 2 legit sources only. Paired with the cheap, cheap Broken Myth, she can get some serious damage off at a low cost! Praise the lord!

A cheap and always helpful friend, Crucible becomes a sweet pick for the dauntless. It doesn't offer much in terms of Shields and Armor, but the bonus health makes your Imperial Sigil a team-friendly ability when in need. Plus, double Reflex Blocks.

Why don't I counter-build?

I see no value in counter-building (I know I'd be getting hate or something, sorry). However, you can always sub and item into the build to better fit the situation.

Lyra's power has taken a huge hit. While it's already expected, the nerf to her healing was extremely harsh, if I'd say.

It'll take some time to get used to reduced healing on Imperial Sigil, but I'll try to remain positive about Lyra's performance!

Just to remind everyone, be sure to catch Vainglory Worlds from 14-17 December! Watch Live as we champion the victor on 17 December for at least 30 minutes and get the Championship Catherine skin for free!

Impales can be really deadly when enemies can't dodge it. Bonus tankiness to the team too!

Impales can be really deadly when you can't dodge it. Bonus tankiness for his team too!

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Vainception anyone?

Depends on individual skill. Key note: just wait until they use the B+Ult combo offensively.

He gets bonus healing. I don't see why not.

While easily embarrassed with a Bright Bulwark, he'll be having the last laugh when he nosedives into you.

Not much of a synergy aside from being well protected here. Carry on kids.

Oh hell, she'll enjoy every bit of this. Her Munions are just too hard to deal with unless team effort is put into destroying those rabid onions.

Wham! Bam! Slam! This polite river troll will appreciate the bonus move speed as he gives enemies a traumatic ride on his anchor.

Phinn shouldn't be much of a threat unless he's in melee range. In that case, RUN.

Nearly identical to Baptiste, Krul and Phinn, his weakness is covered by Lyra, while his strengths are boosted into godlike levels.

You don't want this grumpy old man right up your doorstep. He'll terrorize your entire team with a good blast of damage.

Like the star-crossed lovers they are, Reza can invest on more offense as Lyra's there to keep him hearty. If all else fails, there'll be an Arcane Passage somewhere.

He needs to stack up on his effects before he gets to dive and burst heroes down. Lyra can heal those wouds and discourage prospective Rezas from diving a little too deep for comfort...

He's squishy. Go figure.

His damage output will surprise you as he riddles his hapless victims with bullet holes.

Read any tanks above.

If she's given a ticket into the party, she will spin and spin everyone into collapse. Disengage briefly should she close in.

He needs a tanky frontline, but he can still benefit from his adoptive mother's care.

Don't worry about him, we're just friendzzzz.

I'm sure you've heard of the much-despised duo right?

He'll show you what Gracie can do if you want to.

S.Q.U.I.S.H.Y. What's that called? SWAG.

His perk makes you extra crispy. Other than that, meh.

Zone enemies out of their chairs with this new combinatination. Bask in the magnificence of the blue sky as you hear the graceful tunes of a lyre.

Wanna know what's trybophobia? (Don't google it if you've a weak heart, please. I'm not responsible for any deaths this cause.)

Now you see me, now you don't. Taka is like Alpha, in that they never stay put. While a difficulty to heal, he can still be sheltered by Lyra's protection. After all, that's what the Class President does.